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When I started my graduate studies my accounting teacher suggested I find a professional organization to grow with. I was intrigued, but I had a lot of questions. Finding the answers took me on a special journey.

A $36 billion opportunity for CFEs to make a differenceCFEs who vigorously work to increase awareness of elder abuse by educating the public and commit their time and efforts to assist victims pursuing available remedies will undoubtedly help stem the tide and prevent someone from suffering a real financial and emotional loss.

Are the prices of cryptocurrencies being manipulated?Investors and regulators are concerned that cryptocurrencies are highly susceptible to price manipulation. This danger is particularly pronounced for the hundreds of small, thinly traded “altcoins” that have popped up in the wake of the
success of bitcoin and Ethereum.

How advanced data analytics can help to manage third-party riskThough fraud-risk teams worldwide don’t have psychics on staff (that we’re aware of), they can rely on predictive analytics to ascertain the future and assess the probability that third parties will commit fraud — or already have committed
undiscovered frauds.

Wildlife traffickers eye money laundering Wildlife trafficking previously was a niche concern for environmentalists, but because of its links to other forms of illegal activity, it’s now attracting a wider audience. Terrorist groups such as the Somali group al-Shabaab had used
funds from wildlife trafficking as a means of financing its activities.

When thinking about fraud, consider your risk"We don't have a lot of fraud." This unrealistic sentiment can lead to costly and disastrous outcomes. The fact is, organizations don't know how much fraud they have because fraud is invisible until they discover it. If you assume you
have very little fraud, you'll pay for it.

Key considerations in post-incident financial statement auditsImagine an organization in the middle of an accounting investigation related to the recording of fictitious revenues. Here we address issues companies might face after an investigation related to external auditors’ opinions on financial
statements.

3 countries, 3 murders and 1 CFE's determinationJeff Filliter was working at a bank in Canada when he was flown to Mexico City to investigate the murder of a 41-year-old branch manager. What Filliter, a CFE and investigator of more than 40 years, relayed to attendees at the 2017 ACFE
Fraud Conference Canada was a story straight out of a Netflix series.

A truth about fraud: someone usually knowsIt doesn’t matter what kind of organization makes the news — whether it’s a manufacturing plant, a sales and marketing company, an importer, a nonprofit, a university or a government entity — when someone behaves badly, someone else usually
knows.

Fraud isn't rocket scienceWhat do pizza chains, horror movies and ski lodges have in common with rockets, satellites and space stations? The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has paid for all these things, whether knowingly or unknowingly.

Preparing for a SWIFT message investigationWhile SWIFT messages are standardized, investigators can encounter a number of potential issues when they extract, process, store and analyze them. Here are seven best practices you can follow to increase the efficiency and effectiveness
of your inquiries.

The dynamic duo of cognitive dissonance and moral disengagementDo employees make conscious decisions to commit fraud, or are they so morally disengaged that they don't associate their actions as unethical or unlawful? Does moral disengagement negate their responsibilities because they don't understand
the negative effects of their acts?

Auditing an organization's governance and ethicsAn internal auditor usually analyzes an organization’s ethics when it has an important impact on other key governance aspects. Strong ethics helps an organization perform better. Here are some practical difficulties that auditors might
face when auditing an organization’s governance.

Tough life lessons from the Bernie Madoff Ponzi schemeOn Sept. 9, 2016, Audible released the first episode of the “Ponzi Supernova: Madoff Speaks” series. Here are three tough life lessons from the Madoff Ponzi scheme that fraud fighters can implement right now to improve future fraud examinations.

The grand scheme of thingsIs the high-stake game of fraud limited to multimillion-dollar organizations? Or do small acts of fraud require just as much attention? It can be just as devastating to lose revenue in small amounts as it is for a global company to lose
a few million.

Secrets: When white-collar crime goes dirtyIn two unrelated but sadly similar cases, Harvey and Larry carried on secret, sexually aberrant lives that were decidedly at variance with their known, socially respectable lives. Unfortunately, Harvey and Larry encountered extortionists
who exploited their secrets, which cost each man thousands of dollars and one his life.

Health care analytics Controlling opioid abuse is a challenge due to the sheer number of pharmacy claims and the woefully outdated manual methods used to review them. Next-generation analytics overcome these challenges by using multiple data points to identify
and uncover purchasing and prescribing patterns that indicate a high probability of abuse.

Joining forces to manage fraud risk The ACFE has collaborated with the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) to produce the Fraud Risk Management Guide (FRMG) to help organizations focus their anti-fraud efforts. The ACFE also created
a website to host interactive tools to complement the FRMG and assist organizations in applying its principles.

Hiding in plain sight Lives Well is a fictional name for a real perpetrator of transaction laundering. It’s the kind of company that flies through automated application checks for most financial products because this thoroughly modern-day enterprise is nothing
but a front — an empty shell company hiding a dark secret.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire In this case study, a convicted fraudster's plan to make some fast money goes terribly wrong. The author recounts the payroll fraud and subsequent drug charges, followed by an interview with the fraudster from behind bars.

She-wolves in shepherd's clothing Greed is everywhere. It pollutes all industries and organizations, including those dedicated to helping the poorest and most vulnerable of our society. And it breeds fraudsters within these organizations who have profound canniness and
precisely zero moral queasiness when selecting their victims.

'I didn’t commit that crime!' Don't become a victim of criminal identity theft, a newer type of identity theft that can be even more damaging than having a criminal destroy your credit rating. Often the victims of this scheme find out about the crime when they're
arrested or fired from their job because of an outstanding warrant.

The virtual future of money laundering While today’s leading virtual currencies, like bitcoin, may or may not pass the test of time, the underlying technology is here to stay. Innovators are taking us into a new realm in the exciting (and to some, terrifying) world of virtual
currency. How do we prevent criminals from abusing the system in this still fairly new technology?

More than words Unaoil, a Monaco-based oil consulting company, was recently exposed in a media investigation for potentially supporting or facilitating bribes on behalf of large multinational firms in the oil and gas industry. The case provides lessons
on using forensic email reviews to help gather evidence or indications of fraud, misconduct and regulatory non-compliance.

A lot of hanky-panky going on The massive number of individuals feeling social deprivation, the ease of technological communication and the criminal expertise of savvy fraudsters all set the global stage for a whole lot of hanky-panky. The particular details of romance
confidence schemes evolve every year and have little to nothing to do with true romance.

Smartphone security While it’s crucial that CFEs are aware that mobile devices — smartphones and tablets — bring fraud risks to organizations, it’s also critical that they know the risks of using their own mobile devices in professional settings. Here are
tips for protecting your PII on mobile devices.

Denying illicit revenue While a typical drug investigation wouldn't necessarily cross jurisdiction lanes into tax and revenue violations, the author takes a proactive approach to finding delinquent tax activity in his subjects of investigation. Why? To build
another pillar of evidence that can be leveraged in his agency's drug investigation.

Getting ahead of the risk When your work duties revolve around auditing or the detection of fraudulent behavior, the Fraud Triangle model is a useful resource in identifying potential offenders or situations. It can also provide a visual analysis of future business
decisions and the building blocks of instructor-led training.

The fluidity of credit card fraud As merchants and other businesses are migrating to EMV technology, fraudsters have upped their collective game to hit the new security measures head on. The sooner companies adopt a variety of automated fraud prevention methods the more
likely they are to stay ahead.

Creative embezzlement Edith Chase subtly supplemented her income for more than eight years by using her knowledge of her employer's accounting system. She committed her crimes without ever cutting one fraudulent check to herself, making one false charge on
the company's credit card or illegally wiring money to herself from her company's bank accounts.

Whistleblowers we're thankful for As we approach Thanksgiving, we give thanks to whistleblowers. When fraud confronts them, they decide not to look the other way but instead risk their jobs, families and health "For Choosing Truth Over Self" — the motto inscribed on
the ACFE's Cliff Robertson Sentinel Award.

Tackling fraud in higher education International Fraud Awareness Week, Nov. 15-21, is an especially important time for students and faculty to get involved in preventing fraud in higher education. Learn how universities are taking up the mantle of fraud prevention for
this year's Fraud Week.

Improved Fraud-Magazine.com For more than three decades, the ACFE has published Fraud Magazine to give its members timely, insightful articles on white-collar crime and strived to improve this benefit. We've recently worked to rebuild Fraud-Magazine.com
to reflect evolving technology and design standards.

The Executive Fraud Triangle In this evolved Fraud Triangle, the possibly fraudulent executive is surrounded by three points: greed, pride and entitlement.

Winning over law enforcement to your side On any given day we may find ourselves working on a fraud examination. If this isn't difficult enough, we also face another daunting obstacle: turning the case over to law enforcement.

Reporting misconduct Do your workers know how to report misconduct internally? Are they comfortable when doing so? Or would they more likely report the issue first to the SEC — for the reward?

Managing fingerprint evidence The lawyer representing the president of a global corporation falsely accused of sexual harassment knew to contact a fingerprint expert. Why?

Analyzing Documents Effectively If a client asked for your help in confirming the source or authenticity of a handwritten document, would you recommend fingerprint analysis, a handwriting examination or both? And whose technical support would you seek?

Anti-Fraud Synergy: CFEs and Internal Audit Since the beginning of FY 2005, more than $100,000 had disappeared from of the fareboxes of the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority in Austin, Texas, before anyone noticed. And no one could say how much longer the thefts would
have continued had the anonymous tipster not alerted investigators. The internal control deficiencies had prevented anyone from noticing the losses.

Pulling the Plug on ATM Skimmers These days a savvy fraudster need not physically steal a bank debit card to access its owner's account. Instead, the fraudster attaches an inconspicuous device to an automated teller machine (ATM) that copies a victim's account information
when he uses the compromised machine. This article explains skimming techniques and devices and shows how to thwart them.

Help Clients Avoid Corruption and Prosper Overseas In emerging markets where corruption is widespread – China is one – Western multinational corporations are particularly vulnerable to bribery, kickbacks, and other forms of fraud. But a growing international consensus holds that
corruption harms all companies – domestic and foreign.

Sniffing for Cooked Books: Trend and Ratio Analysis In June, Alton Sizemore Jr., CFE, CPA, sat down for a conversation with someone he had met before -- one of the primary architects of the $2.7 billion financial statement fraud at HealthSouth Corporation, headquartered in Birmingham,
Ala. In this article, Sizemore supplies simple but powerful analytic techniques that fraud examiners could have used to possibly prevent this scheme.

Supreme Court Limits Widely Used Anti-fraud Law On June 24 the Supreme Court scaled back an anti-fraud law that prosecutors have regularly relied upon to convict business executives and politicians: the “honest services” law. The decision could affect many past, current, and pending
fraud cases.

Preventing Kickback Schemes: Know How to Stop Bribery in its Tracks When an anonymous e-mail reached senior executives at National Steel Corporation (NSC), its charges were explosive. NSC's internal audit director took no chances; he called a trusted external specialist with the right credentials
and experience -- Craig L. Greene, CFE.

Promote Yourself to the A-Team When fraud strikes your employer or one of your corporate clients, be ready to step up to the plate and show the company why having a CFE on the team is crucial in times of crisis.

Robert Mazur, president of Chase & Associates, explains why he thinks the U.S. Department of Justice missed out on a prime opportunity to obtain even more essential intelligence from Swiss bank UBS, and what he hopes can be done now as it
investigates Swiss bank Julius Baer.

Daniel Vinton, CFE, had no reason to worry when he boarded his flight at LaGuardia Airport in New York City. The weather was cold but clear that January afternoon, and he called his wife to let her know he would be home in time for dinner.

In a recent ACFE survey, Fraud Magazine readers were asked their opinions on how to improve Fraud Magazine, to rate its value as a membership benefit, and to explain how they use the information disseminated. The responses
have been invaluable as we've worked to rebuild the magazine's website to reflect today's reader and meet your needs.

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